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Lawyers with AI Skills: The Hottest New Legal Job
31 Oct
Summary
- Legal engineers blend law and AI, a rapidly growing profession.
- Demand for legal engineers is high across law firms and companies.
- Salaries for legal engineers range from $153,000 to $300,000 annually.
A new profession, "legal engineer," is rapidly gaining traction in the legal sector as artificial intelligence integration accelerates. Professionals with expertise in both law and AI are in high demand across major law firms, legal tech vendors, and in-house departments. Daniel Himmel, now head of legal engineering for North America at Legora, recalls his early career shift in 2018 as a significant risk, a sentiment that has since vanished amid the profession's explosive growth.
Legora has hired approximately 200 legal engineers globally since 2024, with hundreds more being recruited by competitors and clients alike. This boom is driven by the need to adapt legal workflows and implement AI tools effectively. Job titles vary, including "knowledge and innovation counsels" and "legal applications engineers," with compensation packages also differing significantly.
Prominent law firms are offering competitive salaries for these roles. For example, Latham & Watkins is hiring "legal engineering attorneys" with salaries between $220,000 and $250,000. Kirkland & Ellis advertises an "A.I. innovation adviser" role with a salary range of $153,000 to $220,000, while Gibson Dunn is offering between $250,000 and $300,000 for a "legal technology & AI Attorney."
